Bayboro Development Center plans fundraiser

Published: Monday, May 6, 2013 at 06:12 PM.

BAYBORO — The Bayboro Development Center, which has helped produce affordable housing in Pamlico County for more than a decade, has a goal of building a senior citizen/veteran housing complex.

“Many of our seniors and veterans have been displaced by the effects of Hurricane Irene,” said Vennie Himbry, the center’s executive director. “This natural disaster resulted in a serious lack of adequate housing that is still being felt today.”

She said Bayboro Development Center has applied for a grant that will require match funds and is currently holding various fundraisers to meet the obligation.

A Saturday night fundraiser is the “Last Chance Prom,” a black tie event at the New Bern Riverfront Convention Center. It is from 6:30 to 10 p.m. and includes door prizes, the crowning of a king and queen, a shoe fashion show and live entertainment. It is catered by The Flame in New Bern.

Tickets are $25. Call the development center at 745-4868 or 229-9706. Tickets also are at Lois’s Hands of Faith, 636-0912 or 637-9101.

The development center was founded in 2001 by the late Joe Himbry in an attempt to increase affordable quality housing and economic opportunities to low-to-moderate income communities in Pamlico County.

His wife Vennie now leads the nonprofit organization. She said it focuses on assisting low and moderate income families and individuals to qualify for and obtain affordable mortgages, build assets and repair substandard homes.

BAYBORO — The Bayboro Development Center, which has helped produce affordable housing in Pamlico County for more than a decade, has a goal of building a senior citizen/veteran housing complex.

“Many of our seniors and veterans have been displaced by the effects of Hurricane Irene,” said Vennie Himbry, the center’s executive director. “This natural disaster resulted in a serious lack of adequate housing that is still being felt today.”

She said Bayboro Development Center has applied for a grant that will require match funds and is currently holding various fundraisers to meet the obligation.

A Saturday night fundraiser is the “Last Chance Prom,” a black tie event at the New Bern Riverfront Convention Center. It is from 6:30 to 10 p.m. and includes door prizes, the crowning of a king and queen, a shoe fashion show and live entertainment. It is catered by The Flame in New Bern.

Tickets are $25. Call the development center at 745-4868 or 229-9706. Tickets also are at Lois’s Hands of Faith, 636-0912 or 637-9101.

The development center was founded in 2001 by the late Joe Himbry in an attempt to increase affordable quality housing and economic opportunities to low-to-moderate income communities in Pamlico County.

His wife Vennie now leads the nonprofit organization. She said it focuses on assisting low and moderate income families and individuals to qualify for and obtain affordable mortgages, build assets and repair substandard homes.

“We also help develop homeownership as a base for asset building and entrepreneurial development upwards to small business development,” she said. “Since good credit is a major determining factor for home ownership, home repair and asset building, we assist with cleaning up bad credit and improving beacon scores by working with each individual’s credit report and directly with the creditors.”

She said the center helps simplify personal financial management into three to four easy-to-follow steps.

“We emphasize that all bad credit is repairable,” Himbry said. “In today’s economy, people need a little bit of hope to cling to, a goal to work towards. Pamlico County residents need that bit of hope, that goal.”

The services that the Bayboro Development Center provides are free of charge.